Iran-India Relations Dip Over Gas Field: Tehran Media Says It Has to Do With Donald Trump

NEW DELHI: "Iran's wealth and national interests were plundered by a bunch of marauders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, China and India" during the US sanctions against India, are strong words from Akbar Torkan, top advisor to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani since 2013. Although it’s been several months since Torkan said this, the statement has now been regurgitated by Iran’s official news agency ICANA on deteriorating relations between New Delhi and Tehran.

Serious differences have cropped up between the two countries again, this time over the development of the Farzad B gas field that had been ‘discovered’ by the Indian companies in the Persian Gulf. Negotiations between the two countries clearly hit a boulder, with Petroelum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan maintaining that India’s state refineries would import less Iranian crude oil in 2017-2018.

Iran has seen this as a response to, as ICANA put it, “its refusal to meet New Delhi’s demands.” Iranian Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangeneh has said, “there should be sensible conditions in the negotiations. We cannot sign a contract under threats. The language of threat is not a good one.” He has further stated that Iran has signed a basic agreement with Russia’s Gazprom and according to the ews agency is not particularly concerned about India’s decision to cut oil imports.

India and Iran, after a relatively unbroken period of harmony, ran into rough waters under the Manmohan Singh government that responded to strong pressure from the United States to curb trade and political ties with a country under sanctions. Then US President George W.Bush used the nuclear agreement with India to bring in what the enabling Hyde Act termed then as “congruity” in foreign policy, that was clearly to inhibit New Delhi from pursuing cordial relations with Tehran.

Under US President Barack Obama there was some relief in Washington-Tehran ties, with New Delhi moving in to renew its oil and gas ties with Iran. Farzad B has been at the core of new negotiations, as India has demanded developmental rights for the OVM consortium for this gas field it had discovered. Interestingly, given India’s pro-US position under Singh and now has moved closer to Russia with Gazprom moving into the areas that the Indians were hesitant to tread.

Iranian sources had for long spoken against this but recent high level visits seemed to have opened new doors. However, it is clear now from the new controversy that Iran is no longer as amenable to its ‘old friend’ as it once was, and has drawn a distance that is increasingly more visible. Interestingly, initially Iran was more than willing to hand over the developmental rights on Farzad B but relations over the past ten years have not exactly strengthened ties between the two countires. Iran claims India did not show sufficient interest when it should have, and only responded when international interest in the gas field grew.

The official media of Iran has now repeated what was often heard under the Congress regime here, that “authorities in New Delhi have a habit of playing hardball with Iran in their dealings whenever Tehran comes under pressure from the West. Some observers have linked the new assertive stance to tough language being used by the Trump administration against Iran.” At the start of this year oil ties between India and Iran were booming, but now with US Donald Trump promising strict action, there is a visible slump in relations.